THE BEDFORD SERIES IN HISTORY AND CULTURE
Dred Scott v. Sandford
A Brief History with Documents
Paul Finkelman
Hatnline University
School ofLaw
BEDFORD BOOKS
Boston
ÄS New York
Contents
Foreword
Preface
iii
v
PART ONE
Introduction: The Dred Scott Case, Slavery,
and the Politics of Law
1
An Overview of the Dred Scott Case
A Bad Decision
A Complex and Confused Case
Slavery in the Territories
Who Was Dred Scott?
Dred Scott Sues for Freedom
In the Federal Court
The Jurisdictional Issue and the Plea in Abatement
The Case in the Federal District Court
2
4
6
8
10
20
23
24
25
Before the Supreme Court
26
The Judges
The Compromise Not Taken
The Jurisdictional Question
29
31
33
Free Blacks under Taney*s Constitution:
"They Had No Rights"
The Status of Slavery in the Territories under
34
Dred Scott
36
The Territories Clause
The Fifth Amendment
38
39
ix
CONTENTS
Law as Politics
The Politics of Law
43
45
The Republican Fear of a Conspiracy
The Nationalization of Slavery
The Democratic Response
46
47
49
Epilogue
50
PARTTWO
The Documents
53
1.
55
Opinions of the Justices
Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, Opinion ofthe Court in
Dred Scott, Plaintiffin Error v. John F. A. Sandford
55
Justice James M. Wayne, Concurring Opinion
77
Justice Samuel Nelson, Concurring Opinion
79
Justice Robert Cooper Grier, Concurring Opinion
85
Justice Peter V. Daniel, Concurring Opinion
86
Justice John Archibald Campbell, Concurring Opinion
91
Justice John Catron, Concurring Opinion
96
Justice John McLean, Dissenting Opinion
100
Justice Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Dissenting Opinion
108
2.
Newspaper Responses to the
Dred Scott Decision
127
Varieties of Southern ProSlavery Opinion
127
Enquirer (Richmond), The Dred Scott Case,
March 10,1857
129
Mercury (Charleston), The Dred Scott Case—
Supreme Court on the Rights ofthe South, April 2, 1857
130
Daily Picayune (New Orleans), Citizenship, March 21, 1857 132
The Buchanan Administration's Paper
Endorses the Decision
133
Union (Washington, D.C.), The Dred Scott Case,
March 12,1857
134
CONTENTS
Northern Support for the Dred Scott Decision
Journal ofCommerce (New York), The Decision of
the Supreme Court, March 11,1857
Journal ofCommerce (New York), The Dred Scott Case,
March 12,1857
Post (Pittsburgh), The Dred Scott Case, March 14,1857
Post (Pittsburgh), Seeking an Issue, March 17,1857
Opposition to the Dred Scott Decision:
A Spectrum of Northern Opinion
Tribüne (New York), March 7, 1857
Daily Times (New York), The Slavery Question—
The Decision ofthe Supreme Court, March 9,1857
Evening Post (New York), The Supreme Court ofthe
United States, March 7,1857
Independent (New York), Wickedness ofthe Decision in
the Supreme Court against the African Race,
March 19,1857
Register (Salem), The U.S. Supreme Court,
March 12,1857
Zion's Herald and Wesleyan Journal (Boston), The Laie
Decision ofthe Supreme Court ofthe United States,
March 18,1857
Iincoln's Paper Responds
Tribüne (Chicago), Who Are Negroes?
March 12, 1857
Tribüne (Chicago), The Dred Scott Case,
March 17,1857
Tribüne (Chicago), Judge Curtis's Opinion,
March 19, 1857
A War for Public Opinion: The Washington
Union and The New York Tribüne
Union (Washington, D.C.), Unreasonable Complaints,
March 21,1857
Tribüne (New York), Judge Taney's Opinion,
March 21,1857
Tribüne (New York), Editorial, March 21, 1857
136
137
139
142
143
143
144
145
147
149
152
153
154
155
155
156
157
157
161
162
XU
CONTENTS
Tribüne (New York), Editorial, March 25, 1857
Union (Washington, D.C.), The Supreme Court and the
New York Tribüne, March 28,1857
3.
PoHtical Debate in the North
Frederick Douglass, The Dred Scott Decision:
Speech at New York, on the Occasion
ofthe Anniversary ofthe American Abolition Society,
May 11, 1857
164
165
168
169
Lincoln-Douglas Debates and the
Dred Scott Decision
Abraham Lincoln, The "House Divided" Speech at
Springfield, Illinois, June 16,1858
Stephen A Douglas, Speech at Chicago, Illinois,
July 9, 1858
Abraham Lincoln, Speech at Chicago, Illinois,
July 10,1858
Stephen A Douglas, Speech at Springfield, Illinois,
July 17,1858
The Debate at Freeport: Lincoln's Questions and
Douglas's Answers, August 27, 1858
The Debate atjonesboro, September 15,1858
Congressional Debate
"Bust of Chief Justice Taney," Congressional Globe,
February 23,1865
182
185
195
201
205
213
216
220
221
APPENDICES
Chronology of Events Related to Dred Scott (1787-1870)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
227
231
233
Index
235